


Sharpe Returns

by DorsetGirl



Series: Sharpe - Weekly Clip Transcripts [8]
Category: Sharpe (TV), Sharpe - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, International Fanworks Day 2021, M/M, Movie: Sharpe's Peril
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:36:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29416500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorsetGirl/pseuds/DorsetGirl
Summary: Sharpe and Harper have survived separate perils during the night but they're strangely distant with each other.
Relationships: Patrick Harper & Richard Sharpe
Series: Sharpe - Weekly Clip Transcripts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2172534
Kudos: 1





	Sharpe Returns

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the very brief Sharpe/Harper interaction which occurs at 5:09 in [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWHEWcK6El8) from _Sharpe’s Peril_. All dialogue is borrowed from the show but the rest of the words are mine.
> 
> I’ll be honest, I’m not quite sure what’s going on in this snippet, which is why Sharpe and Harper are both a bit confused and concerned.

~ ~ ~

Sharpe knows they’ll have to move on very soon, but he also knows that first he has to talk to Pat and find out what’s going on there. 

They’re in a very dangerous situation and must be able to rely on each other completely. And at this moment, for the first time since Torrecastro, he’s not sure of Pat’s loyalty, and he thinks it might just rip his heart out.

He stands up and waits for Pat to come nearer; he doesn’t particularly want to share this conversation with anyone else. Pat looks very tired, though he probably didn’t suffer the same kind of night as Sharpe did. All fairness, though, he’s brought the entire column safely through very difficult country. The best sergeants - and Pat is the best, possibly even better than Sharpe was himself as a Sergeant - transcend the demands of knowing how to get things done and can be trusted to know _what_ to do as well.

Harper stops some distance away, and Sharpe wonders if maybe Pat was enjoying being in charge too much to welcome his return. Perhaps all these months he hasn’t been as pleased to be working together again as Sharpe has. Something else to ask him, but he’s still wondering where to start when Harper speaks first, softly.

“God, Richard, you gave us a rare fright.”

The tone of voice tells him maybe he’s got things wrong, that after all Harper isn’t disappointed to learn he’s survived, but where is the closeness they’ve always shared? Time was when he’d nobbut to look up and Pat would be there, always cheerful and always knowing when to speak and when to hold his peace. 

For years they worked together and fought together, and through it all they kept each other safe above all others. Sharpe supposes at some point he came to take it somewhat for granted but he never ceased to take comfort from it and he hopes he always showed his appreciation.

~ ~ ~

Pat can’t remember when his natural wish as a sergeant to keep his officer safe transformed into something more. When his sworn duty to stay close to the man and keep him safe transformed into _needing_ to stay close to the man and keep him safe. Truth be told it was the only reason he’d come back to India - Ramona had got so fed up with him mooning about the house that she’d told him to go and find Mr Sharpe and ask him for work, but before he could set out he received a letter from none other than Major Hogan, offering him some very interesting opportunities in India if he would get himself on a ship immediately, including the chance to work with Colonel Sharpe again.

As ever with Major Hogan things proved not to be quite that simple, but it had somehow seemed inevitable when he looked round and saw the familiar figure in trouble. Time had slowed down, he’d raised the magnificent volley gun Sharpe himself had given him, and from that moment on they’d been the old team again, and he’d loved every dirty frustrating minute of it. Until Sharpe - always too honourable for his own good - had set off alone to find Marie-Angelique, leaving Harper to take responsibility for the company.

They’d struggled on through the cruel Indian heat until Pat started to worry whether Sharpe had met trouble even he couldn’t handle, but what with the Major being so ill and Beauclere just a youngster he wasn’t able to spare anyone to try to follow his path. 

So Pat had struggled on with hope and fear dancing on his heartstrings, and the moment Lance Naik Singh told him Sharpe was dead was the worst of his entire life. Nothing had hit him so hard before - not the breach at Badajoz; not being set up for theft and flogged raw for it; not even the news of his own father’s death. He’d carried on as best he could, of course he had, but truth be told without Sharpe it had been a struggle to care about any of these people and keep them moving every day.

And now here’s Sharpe back as large as life but strangely distant. Pat runs over in his mind everything he did, the decisions he made, while Sharpe was gone. He wants to explain himself, but he knows the sad loss of Major Tredinnick wasn’t his fault and he can’t think of anything Sharpe could have done different to save him. 

Then again, he reminds himself, Colonel Sharpe’s never been one for doing what you think he might do, or at least not in the way any person in his whole mind would expect him to do it. The man’s instinct for action sets him above any soldier Harper has ever met, saving only the Duke, and him only on rare occasion.

Harper wants to step closer to the man he’d have said he knows better than himself, find out what Sharpe thinks he did wrong, but Sharpe just stands looking at him in awkward silence. 

Just as the silence threatens to become really uncomfortable Sharpe says brusquely,

“Best get moving.”

Well, Pat’s been a soldier years enough that he didn’t expect hugs and tears, so he didn’t, but this coldness from a man he’s been proud to call friend is a kick in the face. Horse trader, civilian and Government spy he might be now but he’s still sergeant enough to value the occasional “Well done” from a respected officer, and he’s done his duty right enough, hasn’t he? Sharpe has always before been man enough to give credit where it’s due. 

Harper feels his shoulders slump as he pushes his disappointment back down deep and turns away like the good subordinate he supposes he still is. 

He’s barely taken a step when he’s halted by a quiet voice from behind.

~ ~ ~

“Pat.”

~ ~ ~

Sharpe knows from the speed Pat turns round that he was waiting for something, but he’s still not sure what. He wasn’t planning to say anything more, but the brief look of hurt on Pat’s face as he turned away had been the first indication that Pat hasn’t somehow turned into a complete stranger while they faced their separate perils, and he can’t just ignore it. 

He knows there’s no time for making speeches, except that he needs to thank Pat for taking charge in his absence and for, well, being Pat. But he also knows he won’t be able to control his voice if he speaks again now. All he can do is hope Pat can see on his face what he feels, but how strongly he feels it threatens to spill out and embarrass them both in front of the company. 

He has to close his eyes for a moment and get control over himself again by remembering that he’s not a starving gutter lad to think only of himself and feel hard done by, he’s a Lieutenant-Colonel with responsibilities and an ill-matched Company to see to.

He opens his eyes and stares at Harper, and calls on all the self-discipline he can muster to give Pat a brief smile. It’s all he can do for now and he just hopes Pat will understand.

~ ~ ~

Harper sees the tiny flicker of pain and appreciates the effort Sharpe is putting into what is possibly the smallest smile he’s ever seen. It’s all very English, so it is, but he supposes it’s better than nothing. 

Feeling more cheerful than he has since Sharpe’s return, Pat allows his eyes to close in acknowledgement for the briefest moment. Maybe Sharpe had a hard time getting Marie-Angelique away from Dragomirov; the man looks weary enough to have spent the night in a snake pit. Perhaps he did - that bastard seems like the type to have one. 

Pat sets himself back in the way of duty, turning away to get things moving, and ten minutes later they lead the column cautiously into another dirty dusty day. 

They smile peaceably at each other as they walk side by side down the road.

~ ~ ~


End file.
